I'd just had a baby - surely I was much too young to have a stroke

With her one-year-old son Edward gurgling happily away on her knee and her seven-year-old, William, at her side, it’s impossible to believe that Michelle Harris could only dream of sitting with her two sons just a few months ago.

For just nine days after Edward’s entirely problem-free birth last May, she suffered a stroke that left her unable to walk or talk.

It’s been an extraordinary transformation, and one that Michelle, 38, a secondary school teacher from Cannock, Staffordshire, finds hard to believe.

Shock: Michelle Harris suffered a stroke just nine days after giving birth to her second child

‘If you’d told me last year that I’d be holding my baby son now, able to carry him and kiss him, and able to read bedtime stories to William, I wouldn’t have believed you,’ she says, tenderly kissing them both. ‘There were times I thought I might never speak again.’

Just before she had her stroke, Michelle had been brushing her teeth as her husband Stuart, 34, a police officer, changed Edward’s nappy in another room. Michelle suddenly dropped her toothbrush and fell to the bathroom floor.

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‘I thought I had fainted. But then I realised I couldn’t move,’ she recalls. ‘All that was going through my mind was Edward and William.’

Stuart heard the thud and ran in. He tried to help her up, but Michelle couldn’t move, not even to turn her head or speak.

‘Stuart looked terrified,’ she recalls. ‘I could think clearly and was trying desperately to communicate — but I couldn’t move my face at all or my tongue to form words. I could only look at him in fear.’

Paralysed: All Michelle could think of when she was lying on the floor was her children William and Edward

Her husband called an ambulance and Michelle was rushed to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. Throughout the journey, Michelle was desperately trying to move, wiggle her fingers and speak — but her entire body was motionless.

‘So many thoughts raced through my mind,’ she recalls. ‘I thought of Edward, my new baby — he was still being breastfed at three-hour intervals. I thought of William, only six then, who would be worried sick. I was terrified.’

At the hospital, Michelle was whisked away for CT and MRI scans. Afterwards, still unable to move or speak, she was wheeled on to a stroke ward.

‘I remember seeing ward signs about strokes and realised with horror that I must have been taken there because I’d suffered one.

In fact, Michelle had suffered a stroke from a clot on the left side of her brain, and a consultant explained it might well have been pregnancy-related.

There are various reasons why strokes occur in young people, explains Dr Peter Humphrey, a consultant neurologist and adviser to the Stroke Association.

‘Common causes are minor tears on the inside of an artery in the neck. The blood forms a clot, this clot then floats off into the head to block a brain artery. Sometimes minor trauma to the neck may trigger this process.

Emergency: Michelle collapsed while brushing her teeth one evening and was rushed to hospital

‘Some strokes are as a result of a minor defect in the heart, on which a clot forms and then floats off down an artery and finally lands in the brain artery.’

Childbirth can also trigger a stroke. ‘Women who’ve just had a baby are at increased risk,’ he adds.

‘Although rare — it happens in about one in 10,000 births — it is usually due to two reasons.

‘The first is a blocked vein in the brain, as a result of a thrombus [a blood clot] forming inside it. It specifically tends to happen in the first two weeks after pregnancy. Experts don’t yet know why this is, but think it’s connected to hormones.

‘The second is due to a condition where the blood vessels narrow after the birth. It’s often reversible — vessels open up again after a few days — so again it’s probably hormone-related.

‘Recovery from stroke is variable: most occurs in the first three months and depends on how much brain tissue is damaged. The hand is usually the last thing to recover and speech recovery is very variable.’

Dr Humphrey stresses the importance of acting swiftly if you suspect someone has suffered stroke.He says: ‘Clot-busting drugs can only be given to those who get to hospital within four-and-a-half hours of experiencing symptoms, so it’s vital to act fast.’

After she was admitted to hospital Michelle spent a week on the stroke ward, drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to speak or even nod; she had to be tube-fed.

Holiday: Michelle and her husband Stuart who has taken time from work to care for her and the boys

Then she was transferred to a rehabilitation unit for stroke victims at West Park Hospital, Wolverhampton. There she was given steroids and strong painkillers, which many stroke victims receive as they usually experience muscle pain. She was also informed how her stroke had affected her.

She had a range of impairments, including speech impediments, motor dysfunction (such as spasticity) and poor co-ordination affecting both upper and lower limbs.

‘It was hard enough knowing I had so much wrong with me; that I’d have to try to walk, talk and use my arms again — but the hardest thing was knowing I had two little boys who needed me.

‘I’d had to stop breastfeeding Edward. William was obviously frightened and upset seeing his mummy in hospital, but I also worried that Edward wouldn’t even remember me. Would we still have our bond? He was so young.’

Mother and son: The secondary school teacher said that she pushed through her illness for her family

But Michelle’s fears also inspired her to give her absolute best during every day of the ten weeks she underwent rehabilitation.

‘I wasn’t doing this for me, I was doing it for my children so I could be their mother again,’ she says.Michelle’s mother moved into the family home to help Stuart with the children.

Meanwhile, Michelle’s day began at 8am with two hours of intensive physiotherapy, followed by occupational therapy such as re-learning how to hold a pen or pick up a teacup.

After that, a specialist would try to get her walking. In those first days of therapy, Michelle collapsed every time in frustrated tears.

‘I wanted to speak, to ask if I’d ever walk again, but I couldn’t move my lips to form words,’ she remembers. ‘I’d cry at night, wondering if all this was for nothing. But I had no choice — I had to carry on.’

Slowly, she improved. She learnt to feed herself with her left hand as her right arm was still unable to move. She took tiny steps, then bigger ones.

Stuart brought the boys in to see her — Edward twice a day and William once daily. Michelle would set herself goals to walk towards her sons while she was cheered on. ‘It was the best incentive,’ she smiles.

But speech still eluded her. She’d try to open her mouth, but her face was paralysed from her eye to her mouth on her right side.

‘When the boys came, I’d put on a happy face for them. But at night I would cry, worrying if I’d ever speak again. I longed to read them stories and was so scared they wouldn’t hear their mum’s voice again.’

Michelle had speech therapy every day. A month after the stroke came the breakthrough: she made a sound.

She tried again and again while her therapist clapped and encouraged her. Over the next two weeks she could form more complicated sounds and began saying words, then small sentences. After eight weeks in hospital, Michelle could walk, pick up a pen, hold a cup and feed herself.

Stroke: Michelle tried to put om a happy face for her sons but would cry at night

Ten long weeks after her stroke, Michelle was finally allowed home.

A physiotherapist and occupational therapist visit her twice a week and she still has speech therapy.As yet unable to return to work, Michelle has help from her husband, who’s been allowed time off to help care for her and the boys.

Now she can carry Edward, do housework and go shopping, but she still cannot lift her right arm completely, nor use her fingers on that hand. No one is sure if she will recover fully, but Michelle is hopeful.

‘The night I suffered a stroke, I wondered if I’d ever move or speak again. For ten long weeks I longed to hold my children, read to them and tell them I loved them, and those thoughts spurred me on.

‘It’s truly thanks to my children and husband that I can walk and talk again. I was very, very lucky.’